LTY Weekend Update: Feb. 19, 2012

The weather cooperated much better this week with only a few days with rain so we made lots of good progress with the sanding, filling and painting this past week.  We finished all the first stage of sanding and filling and sprayed the first coat of sandable primer on Friday so Learnativity is now all white again! Not that this will last for long as tomorrow we’ll start sanding and filling again to get it all flat and smooth in preparation for the final colour coats. I’ll let the before and after pictures show you the difference and the progress.  These two above are of the cockpit area and it has been a particularly big job to get into all those storage areas inside those holes as there was lots of rust in there and as you can see they are difficult to get at.  You’ll also notice that Commodore Ruby is on the job at all times and keeping a very close eye on all the work being done to make sure it is up to her standards.

 Not sure how many times we will need to respray all the surfaces to get them right but probably about 2-3 more coats. The deck will also take quite a bit longer as we will spray it all with the final gloss white coats and then I’ll need to spend several weeks putting back all the fittings, tracks, pulleys and fixtures and then I’ll mask around all of these and we’ll spray on the non skid coating. To create the non skid surfaces we’ll put down a heavy coat of white paint, immediately sprinkle it with a sand like grit and then spray more white on top of that to lock it all in. This non skid paint will cover all areas you walk on so pretty much all the horizontal deck surfaces other than those right around fixtures, tracks, etc. I need to have a VERY sure footing on the deck when I’m at sea and they are all wet and even when on anchor when you are coming in and out of the water and usually have wet bare feet. That will be at least a month away I’d guess and I’ll update you as it happens. 

These two shots above are taken from the bow (front) looking back towards the salon and pilot house and the ones below are taken from the Starboard side of the pilot house looking forward.

I’m getting lots of other “little” jobs done as I make my way through the seemingly endless “To Do” list I make as I find things needing attention over the past year as well as cleaning and rebuilding all the parts I’ve taken off for the paint job so they are all clean and ready to reinstall. Contrary to popular opinion it isn’t all sitting back watching sunrises and sunsets but it is a very small price to pay for this incredible life of total freedom and awemazing experiences.

Weather wise things continue to look good with no TD’s (Tropical Depressions) or cyclones in the forecast but we’ve got several months more of cyclone season which usually lasts till May or so and March is historically the month with the most rainfall in this rainy season so we’ll just have to wait and see what Mother Nature has in store and work around it as best we can.

Ruby is aging a bit faster than usual as she too has a good coat of the white primer all over her making her gray much before her time, but I’ll look after that with a good clipping once we finish spraying. Otherwise she Is enjoying our daily walks and being the talk of the marina where everyone is on a first name basis with her.

Thanks to all of you who asked about my knee injury from stepping into the empty hatch hole a few weeks ago and happy to report that it is much better.  Walking is pretty much pain free and I only feel it when I twist it a certain way so all seems to be healing fine and will be good as new soon.

So that’s the update from here on the good ship Learnativity.  Hope all is well on your end and that you are making great progress with all your projects too.

Wayne & Ruby the Wonderdog

Comments

[Erick]

She looks great, Wayne! It's amazing what can be done with sandpaper, paint and sweat.

[baño de mujeres]

Es increíble lo que se puede hacer con papel de lija, pintura y sweat.great!!

[sac prada]

Hola excelente blog! ¿Tiene mantener un blog como éste requieren una gran cantidad de trabajo? He prácticamente ningún conocimiento de programación de computadoras sin embargo, que había estado esperando para iniciar mi propio blog en un futuro próximo. De todos modos, si usted tiene alguna idea o técnicas para los propietarios de blogs nuevos por favor compartir. Sé que esto es fuera de tema, sin embargo yo sólo tenía que preguntar. ¡Gracias!